Ah, hubby pointed this story out to me this week. It seems quite interesting, but I wondered at the time how it would differ from other GLP argonists. I see they mention the Gila monster, weren't the first GLP class drugs known as Lizard spit? Thanks for posting it Terry.

In '02 when I arrived on a.s.d. we used to joke about Byetta being developed from Gila Monster venom at the time. A likely side effect would be a tendency to spend a lot of time sitting on a rock in the sun.

Some years later it was finally approved but it seems we were mistaken about the side effects .

I did Latin (for three miserable years) and reckon Platypi - and Hippopotami - are the correct plurals.

But the plebeians never agree...

PS You were fortunate. I've only seen half a dozen over the years. They tend to be shy.

What is the plural of platypus? Is it platypodes?Platypodes is one possibility when talking about more than one platypus, although it is rare. It is formed after the Hellenistic Greek πλατύποδες, plural of πλατύπους meaning ‘flat-footed’. A similar phenomenon is seen in the formation of the plural of another creature, octopus, where octopodes (reflecting the plural in the Greek) is an option, although this too is rare.Much more common are the forms platypuses (occasionally spelled platypusses) or platypi. The latter is formed by analogy with Latin nouns of the second declension ending in –us (when in fact the Latin word is a noun of the third declension). For this reason, it is sometimes seen as incorrect in standard English.

Interesting and complicated plurals. I do really like Platipi, but perhaps Platipus is easier. Anyway, we saw two and were later told by the owner of the vineyard that they had had babies, but we did not see those. The owner of the vineyard was a very interesting character. Eric Purbrick was in his 80s, his grandson was really running it, but he liked to talk to visitors and as we were studying wine with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, he took us on a guided tour, explained all his vinification processes, opened some serious wines for us to taste and in the end gave us a book on the history of the vineyard which he signed. Fabulous afternoon.

This bloke was one of my favourite comedians when I was a kid. You would all know "Hello Mudda, Hello Fudda" and I have posted "Hail to Thee, fat Person" before but you might not have heard this one relevant to this discussion. Enjoy: